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(No Model.)

G. W. MILLER. I Handle for Pocket Knives.

No. 240,749. Patented-April 26,1881.

N FETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. MILLER, OF MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT;

HANDLE FOR POCKET-KNIVES.

SPECIFICATION fornging part of Letters Patent No. 240,749, dated April 26, 18 81,

Application llled December 16, 1880. (No model.)

1'0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. MILLER, of Meriden, in the county of New Haven and State ofGonnecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Handles for Pocket Instruments, (which has never been patented to any person in any foreign country with my knowledge and consent,) of which the follow-. in g is a specification.

The object of my invention is to produce a cheap handle for knives and other pocket instruments, punched from metal and bent into such form as to hold the blade and the backspring and be itself held in its proper form for a handle, and all with only a single rivet; and I accomplish this object by the means and in the manner illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure I is a plan view of the handle-blank as it appears after being stamped out by means of a die. Fig. II is a side view of the handle after being bent into proper form to receive the blade or other instrument and the backspring. Fig. III is a side view of the backspring; and Fig. IV is an edge view of a knife, looking into the handle.

In the drawings, 1 represents the handleblank punched out from any sufficiently flexile and still rigid metal-such as sheet-steel, sheet iron, brass, or any composition metal adapted to be bent into its desired form-and with the recesses or slots 3 and 5 also punched therein; but the general form of the blank. may be punched out first, if desired, and the recesses 3 and 5 and holes 6 for the rivet punched afterward, if desired, the recess 3 having oblique or inclined ends 4, or an equivalent thereto, as hereinafter explained. After the blank 1 is punched into this form it is doubled or bent nearly together lengthwise at a point midway its width, and a matrix being inserted into the open part of the handle edgewise, the extreme ends 2 of the handle are pressedfirmly together by means of a die or otherwise, so that said ends 2 shall be quite near together, or in contact, to form the end of the handle, as shown clearlyin Fig. 1V. When thus formed, the back-spring '8, made of suitable springmetal, and provided at the end with the inclined shoulder 9, (or its equivalent, according to the shape of the shoulder 4,) is inserted into the open edge of the handle with the inclined shoulder 9 in the recess 3 of the handle, and the back-spring is forced back into the bandle and against the back 7, and the heel of the blade 10 is then inserted in the handle against the back-spring, and the rivet inserted in the holes 6, which holds the blade firmly in place. As thus secured in place the back-spring cannot be moved out of position in any direction as long as the blade is heldin its position by its rivet. \Vhen the blade is open the spring resists the pressure of the blade lengthwise by its bearing against the shoulder 13, and it cannot move directly out of the open front of the handle, on account of its bearing against the shoulder 4, and the latter being inclined, and the inclined shoulder 9 on the spring, also prevents it from moving or being drawn out lengthwise toward the blade by the action of the latter in being closed.

It is evident that instead of the inclined shoulder 4, any other shouldered form desired may be given to the recess 3, and the end of the back-sprin g be formed accordingly to enter and properly fit said recess, when the ends 2 of the blank are bent together to form the bandle, to prevent the back-spring from moving lengthwise in either direction, or out of the handle, away from its back; but the inclined shouldered recess answers the purpose very well, and is easily made.

Before the blade is inserted the two ends, in which are made the holes 6 each side the slot 5, are bent at little nearer together than the main part of the handle, sothat that end of the handle may fit up closely and hug the sides of the heel of the blade to give stiifness and sufficient side bearin g to the blade, as shown clearly in Fig. IV, The slot 5, however, is not essential, as, if the blade is made stout and thick, to fill the handle properly, itwill be sufficiently rigid and stiff; but in the manufacture of very cheap knives, by using the slot 5 I am not obliged to fold or double the sides of the main part of the handle so near together, but can leave it more open and give it more fullness to fill the hand.

Of course the handle may be made to receive more than one back-spring,with a corresponding number of blades or other instruments; and the end 2 of the handle may have any desired form, either curved or angular.

It will be seen that the spring is held firmly in its position at its shouldered end by shoulders of the recess 3 and the pressure of the heel of the blade or other instrument against the opposite end of the spring. the bearing of the spring against the hack 7 of the handle inside being at any desired point toward the shouldered end of the spring.

It is evident that the handle, as thus arranged, is adapted to contain one or two instruments for a great variety of uses, and may be carried in the pocket and used as a pocketknife is used, when desired, such as buttonhooks, belt-awls, reed-hooks, 850., each, of course, being formed similar to a knife-blade at the heel, to he riveted to the handle in the same manner; and the sides of the handle may he more or less rounded, if desired, or the handle given any desired shape in its crosssection, according to the shape of the dies used in forming it.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new is A handle for pocket instruments having its sides and back formed of fiexile metal in a single piece, and provided with a shouldered recess at one end, the said shoulders of which recess are bent or brought together to secure and form a bearing for the correspondinglyshouldered end of the back-spring, and with the other end of said handle adapted to have the heel of the cutting or other instrument riveted therein and press against that end of the back-spring, substantially as and for the purpose described.

GEO. W. MILLER. \Vitnesses SELAH A. HULL, O. A. KING. 

